From: joshua geller (dclxvi_at_best.com)
Date: 07/27/98
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1998 08:54:03 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199807271554.IAA02750@shell5.ba.best.com> From: joshua geller <dclxvi_at_best.com> Subject: AASAS, Inc activities of this past weekend
It's been a really full weekend, folks. Friday morning seems like at
least a week ago. Since I have built up quite a bit of anticipation,
here on this mailing list, as to what we were going to be about this
weekend, I figured that I should tell y'all what actually went on.
A little background: the members of our company are as follows:
-> Annelise Jade Bazar
Is our Chief Managing Officer. She does everything necessary to run
the company, with the assistance of:
-> Laura Deerfield
Our Executive Secretary.
The amount of work that these women manage to accomplish is
incredible. They both also work fulltime jobs in addition to this:
Annelise is a software engineer for an internet related company here
in the South Bay, and Laura is our household manager. They both also
write and do other things. Either one of them does at least two and a
half fulltime jobs.
-> David Levison
Is our Chief Engineer and Vice President of Marketing. His background
is in marketing, mostly, though he has done a bit of everything. One
of the things he has done is extensive RC modeling. No offense to
anyone else, but I personally consider him the best model airship man
in current practice. Of course I would, wouldn't I? He also works a
fulltime job running the mailroom of a medium size San Jose
corporation.
-> Joshua Geller
Hey, that's me! What do I do, anyway? It's hard to say exactly. I am
the President and CEO at any rate. Gosh, that's an impressive sounding
title. I also work fulltime as a systems consultant. I also get into a
fair amount of trouble, which so far, with the help of these guys, and
our attorney, I have managed to get out of.
Also up from Los Angeles for the weekend was Mr. Chris McCoy, who
besides being the President and CEO of Helios Group, and a fulltime
salesman of computer equipment glories in the title of Marketing
Director, Southern California for AASAS, Inc.
That was the team here in the South Bay at the beginning of the
weekend. Chris didn't arrive until Friday evening (actually he arrived
Friday morning, but he has to do the (his employer's) business part of
his trip first; he didn't arrive at AASAS World Headquarters (aka my
house in east San Jose) until Friday evening.
Friday, 24 July 1998
--------------------
There were a couple things pending, on Friday morning. I'd been
waiting for about a week for word from the skipper of the Lightships,
Group's Russell Stover airship. And of course, assembly of RCAS
Boris Badinov, our second radio controlled model airship and
technology demonstrator, was the main item on our agenda. But on
Friday morning all I knew for sure was that I was putting in a few
hours work writing makefiles for a client and then going to have lunch
with a good friend of mine. So I left the client's offices in Redwood
City around 1115 and was right on time to meet this gentleman in San
Francisco at noon. We had a really good Chinese lunch at the "Garden
of Tranquility" restaurant, which I highly recommend to people seeking
good, inexpensive (for San Francisco) Chinese food. Most of our
discussion had nothing to do with airships; but they did come up
(heh) as they tend to around me.
It was coming on 1400 when I left my friend at his office and started
for the freeway. I was going through a pocket of dead air (or almost
dead air) when my pocket phone did the pager beep thing that it does
sometime when bandwidth's to low to let the call come through, but
high enough for the pager signal. I pulled over and and checked my
voicemail; it was Captain Mats Backlin, of the Lightship Group. I
found a place a bit better for phone calls and we arranged to meet at
Oakland Airport at 1615.
After finishing my conversation with Captain Backlin, I realized that
I didn't have my business cards, which had (in fact) just been printed
up the evening before and were at David's house in South San Jose. I
spent a minute calculating the time, and figured that I would just
barely make it Oakland by way of San Jose, with a bit of luck.
Most fortunately, the skills that I aquired when I was driving a taxi
have not, apparently, deserted me. Flagrantly disregarding speed
limits and traffic regulations, I did in fact arrive at the Holiday Inn,
Oakland Airport (where I was to meet Captain Backlin) at around
1615. A bit of confusion ensued while I tried to locate the Lightships
party; but this was done successfully, and by 1700 or so we were on
our way to the airfield.
By the way, if there's a group of random people hanging around, and
you want to know which one is the airship captain, pick the most
worried looking one. You'll be right 37 times out of 40.
I was extremely impressed by three things:
First, the A-60. What a marvellous little ship. The incredible thing
is how small it is. That Mr. Thiele and his people have managed to
build a ship this capable that is also this small is nothing short of
amazing. It's only 130 feet long and 70,000 cubic feet. The efficiency
with which this craft was built is remarkable. It doesn't have a
catenary curtain; it has catenary patches. I don't believe that there
is a spare ounce in the gondola. These three Russell Stover VIP's got
on board with the pilot and there was plenty of room for all of them.
Second, the graceful manner in which the ground crew carried out their
assigned tasks. No wasted movement. They exercised their assigned tasks
efficiently as a well trained squad of infantry. This is a unit that
anyone would be proud to command, and equal to any task that it should
come upon.
Third was the airship flying that I saw. I don't know the name of the
person at the controls, but it was a beautiful piece of work. The air
conditions were not ideal; there was more than a bit of wind, and it
was quite gusty. You could see the pilot correcting for gusts as he
made his approach. He put the nose of the ship right in front of the
groundcrew, and did a headstand, sort of. I don't think it took a
minute from this point until the ship was on the mast.
When I saw this, I knew that I could apply our technology to one of
these ships - though, unfortunately, I don't think there is enough
lift to spare on an A-60 for the necessary modifications. Besides,
modifying that gondola would be nothing short of obscene. The A-150
has plenty of free lift, though, and I am certain that one could be
modified to use our technology.
I paid my respects to Captain Backlin, and on the way back to my car
told him as much as my lawyer will let me tell anyone who has not
signed an NDA, and drove back to San Jose. Traffic was really horrible,
like it always is. I look forward to the airship lines that will
connect the various parts of the bay area just as soon as we get
around to setting them up, and listened to a bit of Tom Waits on the
stereo.
Saturday, 25 July 1998
----------------------
I arrived at the Hangar first and set to tidying up our
area. Boris was hanging from the gantry, and the gondola was under
her. I don't mess with David's stuff. I did something that the United
States Army trained me very well to do: I swept up. It is amazing how
satisfying janitorial work can be, when it is your own place that you
are sweeping up.
David and Chris and I discussed what I had seen with the Russell
Stover airship and the best way to implement our technology on a
non-rigid ship. Our designs are rigid and semi-rigid, and there is no
doubt that a ship designed, as ours are, from scratch to use our
technology is going to be more efficient than one that is modified to
use it. But we agreed that it is an eminently solvable problem, and
that Boris should be built with it in mind. This requires a minor
redesign of the ship and meant, of course, that Boris didn't fly this
weekend, something that didn't bother David and Chris at all, and only
bothered me a little bit because, after all, I had gone on record
saying that we would fly this weekend. But the reality of the the
thing is inarguable, as reality tends to be. So we should be flying
most anytime now; maybe by next weekend. I left the hangar to go put
in a few hours work for my client.
Sunday, 26 July 1998
--------------------
The main business for this day was to meet Mr. Mark Peaslee, get his
signed NDA and tell him about our project. It was, I think, a very
productive day, but I had little or nothing to do with it; it was
mostly David and Chris and Mark. I was quite impressed with Mr.
Peaslee, who has been involved with a number of important projects.
Him and David have hit it off very well. Apparently he is going to
stable his RC blimp in our little area.
What I spent Sunday doing was something that I've been owing myself
for a while; I went through the Moffett Field Historical Society
Museum, which (by the way) is open to the general public. Ms. Carol
Henderson, the Director of the Museum, has been, over the last several
months, transforming it. The stuff that she has brought together there
is inspiring. There are a number of retired NASA planes in exhibit on
the south end of the Hangar, an exceedingly interesting history of
heavier than air flight. I note that one John Joseph Montgomery (SJ?
the information was apparently obtained from a Jesuit at Santa Clara
University) is credited with the first manned HTA flight on 28 August
1883. There is a Wright Flyer! The AIAA has a Wright Flyer there! I
was massively impressed with the arrangements; Ms. Henderson is one
damned fine officer, and the Moffett Field Historical Society is
definitely going places.
The exhibit that affected me the most was some naval insignia, of a
Vice Admiral, WWII era or slightly thereafter. They belonged to
Charles Emery Rosendahl. Not the most impressive thing in the Museum,
by any means, and I can't begin to put into words why I feel the way I
did when I saw them, and even now remembering them.
The Museum is, of course, open to the public Wednesday through
Saturday, 0900 - 1400.
my very best to you all,
josh
Joshua Geller
President and CEO
AASAS, Inc.